rubberman

+ Randy didn't re-name Villa Park the Tracksuit Arena so that's a bonus.

Hopefully FSG will tell Rogers to do one when he goes over to the US for his meeting. Leaving Liverpool without a manager for most of the transfer window and Tim can sit CB down and talk some sense into him / offer him a £100k contract. Van Gaal doesn't seem to be interested, he doesn't fit Wenger's style and City seem to be planning to spunk £200m on Messi so the most natural fit would seem be Chelsea, but I hope wanting to play every week would be enough to hold them off this window. 1 more year please Christian.

Hmmm - no votes for Richardson yet? Benteke - for the goals that have kept us up, though Delph pushes close. Grealish - for the excitement. My youngest pretends to be him when he's playing - praise indeed.

I liked that ^^. I don't actually like it obv, but it's true.

Nah - dead rubber. Winning this shouldn't have any bearing on performance in a cup final - that should be enough in itself. The important thing is to avoid injury and give a bit of a rest to the likes of Delph who've run themselves into the ground. This is a great chance to evaluate some of the squad players who've been seen as too much of a risk during the relegation run in (I'm looking at you Carles) and see if they can push for a place on the bench for the cup and/or show enough for next season. Don't see any reason why we can't win as well.

Really dreadful, but that happened to Spurs while Tim was there as well. With the way his teams set up it seems to be score loads and win or ship a hatful - will always be a rollercoaster under Sherwood - can't see a season of grinding out 1-0 results.

Teams in the Europa league finish on average 2.3 places lower than the season they qualified. For 'bigger' teams dropping into it, there isn't that effect as the squads are already in place to compete midweek and weekend. For the 'smaller' clubs (which sadly includes us these days) the impact is greater. We need to consolidate a position in the top 1/3 of the league before taking Europe seriously.

Hopefully they'll buy Ings and that will be the end of it. I really hope we can keep him for another year - his goals are easily worth the drop in his value coming into the last year of contract. Even better to sign an extension, though that would be too much to hope for.

Would be fantastic to win the cup, and I think we have a pretty good shout for that, but Europa is poison to clubs in our current position. So as Crackpot said - we need to go into it only playing squad and younger players to give them a bit of experience / keep them interested. Then, over the next 2-3 years get established as regular top 6/7 finishers (as is our rightful position), build up the finances, improve the squad and then start taking it more seriously as a route into the CL (if we're not already breaking into the current top 4 hegemony by then). #dreaming

The way this run in is going I can easily see Hull getting 4 points from Spurs & Utd. And despite our form I can't quite shake the feeling that we'll implode some time (the legacy of the last few seasons I guess). I don't think it's at all likely we'll go down, but there'll be a nagging doubt until it's properly over. A month ago I thought 35 would be enough to be safe, but to see even Sunderland and Newcastle getting points from nowhere keeps the doubt alive. Please make it be over on Saturday.

It's how the Glazer's bought Utd and spent the next 10 years servicing the debt by increasing prices everywhere. ^^ What HeyAnty said.

We need to a) get safe in the league and ideally win the cup, then we can get some proper offers coming out.

Jesus christ no. We really don't need to be bought with debt either.

Whatever business we do, I hope we do it quickly and early and don't get sucked into the last minute deadline day nonsense.

I'll be happy with a draw, no injuries, no sendings off.

I don't think he did any while manager so it's a bit unknown.

If we're winning with 10 to go and Grealish is tiring, I'm happy to see Young Joe Cole come on and use his experience to close things down. If we're a goal down I'd like to see Gil come on as I think he's more likely to spark something. I don't want to see Weimann come on at all. When we're safe / going into next season I'd really hope that Gil will get a bit more game time, but as things stand can't fault Tim's selections.

Completely in our own hands now - no excuses. Minimum of a draw this weekend, and with Leicester - Newcastle the early kick off which shouldn't do Leicester any favours hope Newcastle can sneak a win.

Chelsea haven't looked great with their recent performances, and while I hope they'll sneak another 0-1 win, I can easily see Leicester getting a point. Sunderland are worse than us and have a more difficult run-in, but on paper at least have a game and potential 3pts in hand. Having only them as a buffer between us and the drop is going to be really uncomfortable. Having to get something out of the Burnley game will be a nightmare. We need another positive weekend, with results falling in our favour, though I don't see it this weekend. We're playing well and scoring goals but every game i fear the bubble bursting / more injuries / another red card - every time it looks as though we might get clear this season, we have been pulled back into it. I am still flipping between confident and nervous every day.

Hi there, Been lurking for a while and thought it would be time to put my head above the parapet. I'm south London based but grew up in the Midlands. Had a season ticket for a few seasons in the mid-late 90's, till family commitments meant I wasn't getting up enough to justify it any longer. Still try and get up to the odd game - particularly to bring the kids (who've never seen Villa lose live - should probably take them more often). Have been struggling to keep them on the Claret & Blue path the last couple of seasons with most of their mates being Chelsea, but they're just about hanging in there. Was really not a fan of Sherwood, but grudgingly coming round - can't deny he's getting the results so far and enjoying his comments about the Baggies. Still don't think he's here for the long term, but if he keeps us up that'll do me. So, yeah - Hi.